I had WildBlue service for almost 3 years. During that time I never had the speeds that they claimed. The best performance I had was recorded through an online speed checking service as 364kbs. Far below the 1.5mb I was promised and was paying for.
However that is only a small part of my issue with WildBlue.
During the month of May of this year my service got sporadic. It would be on for an hour then would go off for anywhere from several hours to almost the entire day. This would repeat for the next couple days before I contacted WildBlue technical support.
Technical support took me through the basic reboot of the system and stated that they were unsure what the problem was and to call back. Upon calling back with my ticket number I was redirected to another support individual that stated, "We're unable to identify what the problem is. You need to schedule an onsite service call."
When I asked how much the onsite service call was I was told that since my initial 2 year service contract was up it would be, "$120.00 for the service call and $199.00 for parts.., or I could sign another service agreement and the service call would only be $120.00 with no charge for parts."
Frustrated I grudgingly agreed to the later of the two fees and scheduled the service call.
The service call date came and went with no contact from WildBlue or the service technician.
A week after the intended service call date I received a call from a technician that claimed to work for WildBlue and wanted to reschedule the service call stating that I wouldn't have to wait the two weeks I had waited before for the service call date. I rescheduled the service call for the following week.
Three days after the second service call date when no one showed up or called I called WildBlue customer support and requested to talk with a manager. I was told that there weren't any managers at the call center location. When I asked how I could get in touch with a manager that I wanted to complain about the service and treatment I had received I was told that I could write to a PO Box address and that they didn't give out the phone number to the corporate headquarters.
I was also told by an operator who identified herself as Maria, "If you submit a complaint in writing I can't guarantee that your account won't be canceled."
During this time my credit card had been billed two months for service that I wasn't receiving.
I immediately asked for my account to be canceled. At this point I was transferred to a supervisor who confirmed the cancellation of my account.
Several days later I received a call from a WildBlue technician requesting to set up a service call date. I called customer support again and found out they had not submitted the service cancellation that I had requested days before and I restated that I wanted my service canceled.
This was in August.
This month, October, I received an email from WildBlue containing an invoice for last month's, September and this month's service charges in the amount of $166.76 which is consistent with two months billing of $83.38 which was my previous monthly amount. They state that unless I pay this amount in a timely fashion I will be reported to the credit bureaus.
They are effectively trying to charge me for the months of September and October after I canceled my service in early August.
Alex
Alvarado, Texas
U.S.A.
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